The Problem with Escalated Drama

As I've stated before, I honestly see Steemit to be more than just a site, it's a society. It is a given that disagreements and/or conflicts are going to occur periodically for any group. As we've seen here, some of these conflicts are able to solve themselves by being posted on as usual (sometimes with separately posted response) and through replies by those directly associated with the issue as well as other voices from the community.

Unfortunately some of these issues just seem escalate and fester. For these conflicts we desperately need a place to take this to for some form of mediation. More importantly, taking this already escalated situation out from posts for a few reasons:

Users who don't have all the information, nor gone down the full rabbit hole typically presented, tend to take sides. There is nothing wrong with stating a for/against statement, however many people get swept up by the escalation only making the situation worse.
Do we really want Steemit to be factionalized over time? We are in reality all part of the same community here and to sustainably grow, building and nurturing well placed trust is necessary.
Steemit is still being watched by those outside our community, many of whom we are trying to woo into joining us here. When escalated drama occurs, it makes the trending pages, and what do those without a login see? The Trending Page!! These are the people already turned off by the crap they've seen on other social media sites. Seeing the same on the trending pages here is an absolute turn off for them.
If we constantly upvote and PAY escalated drama, we are just in big trouble. Imagine if the 'easy money' trend switches from plagiarism to creating drama! Up to a point conflict posts are a great thing, especially when it leads to a resolution. But at another point, when it's rather obvious that things aren't heading to a fix, the plug on rewards needs to be pulled and the issue taken somewhere other than posts (or at least have it posted by a mediator.)

Recommendation

Since there are truly valid points and concerns behind these escalated conflicts we need to ensure that they are at least de-escalated if not actually resolved. I would like to see a place such as a #mediation chatroom in steemit.chat where all parties involved and anyone else that want's to be a part can go. I don't see this as any form of censorship, since it's open to everyone, even non-Steemit users (who could just make a chat account.) Ideally some form of log would need to be kept and later put onto the blockchain along with the agree to disagree or a resolution statement.

Drama RESOLUTION should be on the Trending pages!!

Obviously somebody would have to play the role of mediator to at least achieve de-escalation. Similar to Steemprentice model of crowdsourcing mentors, once enough mediators offer their time/service, it's easier to stay ahead of needs while minimizing burnout.

Conclusion

There really isn't a code based solution for human conflict. With this in mind we can't expect something in the development pipeline for this, we have to figure this one out ourselves. We've seen user groups emerge to solve immediate problems such as @curie, @robinhoodwhale, @steemcleaners, @steemverify, @projectnewbie, @steemprentice and I'm sure there are more.

We as a community need to find a way to better deal with these heated conflicts that aren't solving themselves. I really don't care how we go about this, just so long as we do. The current method is only going to drag us all down in the end.